Morgan Stanley Cuts BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ) Price Target to $100.00

BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ) had its price objective cut by Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $100.00 in a research report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on BJ. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club in a research report on Monday, December 29th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 price target on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club in a report on Friday, November 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club from $110.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club from $130.00 to $115.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BJ’s Wholesale Club has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $109.29.

BJ’s Wholesale Club Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club stock opened at $93.32 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. BJ’s Wholesale Club has a 52-week low of $86.68 and a 52-week high of $121.10. The company has a market capitalization of $12.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a 50 day moving average of $92.01 and a 200 day moving average of $96.53.

BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 21st. The company reported $1.16 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.09 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $5.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.35 billion. BJ’s Wholesale Club had a net margin of 2.72% and a return on equity of 28.66%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.18 EPS. BJ’s Wholesale Club has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.300-4.400 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that BJ’s Wholesale Club will post 3.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BJ’s Wholesale Club news, EVP William C. Werner sold 7,000 shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.09, for a total value of $637,630.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 50,498 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,599,862.82. The trade was a 12.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Robert W. Eddy sold 17,898 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.71, for a total transaction of $1,605,629.58. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 296,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,620,096.85. The trade was a 5.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BJ’s Wholesale Club

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in BJ’s Wholesale Club by 60.1% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 8,225,865 shares of the company’s stock worth $768,716,000 after acquiring an additional 3,087,151 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club during the second quarter worth approximately $178,952,000. Danica Pension Livsforsikringsaktieselskab acquired a new stake in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club during the third quarter worth $110,523,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in BJ’s Wholesale Club by 31.7% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,791,602 shares of the company’s stock valued at $446,817,000 after buying an additional 1,152,591 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its stake in BJ’s Wholesale Club by 25.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,082,478 shares of the company’s stock valued at $473,941,000 after buying an additional 1,028,779 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.60% of the company’s stock.

BJ’s Wholesale Club Company Profile

BJ’s Wholesale Club, headquartered in Westborough, Massachusetts, is a membership-based warehouse retailer offering a wide range of products and services primarily to small businesses and individual consumers. The company operates large-format clubs that provide value-priced groceries, health and beauty products, electronics, home goods, furniture, seasonal items and automotive supplies. In addition to its in-club offerings, BJ’s features fuel stations at many locations and operates an e-commerce platform for online ordering and home delivery.

Founded in 1984 as a division of Zayre Corp., BJ’s Wholesale Club quickly expanded throughout the Northeastern United States.